FEDERAL GRAND JURY INDICTS THREE IN SWATTING CONSPIRACY

A federal grand jury has returned a superseding indictment charging a Hagerstown man and two others with conspiracy, cyberstalking and interstate threatening communications in connection with a series of swatting incidents.  Prosecutors allege that Owen Jarboe and the others placed swatting calls to police and emergency departments across the United States.  According to the indictment, the defendants were allegedly part of an online group known as “Purgatory” that used online social media platforms to coordinate and plan their swatting activities and announce swats they conducted. The incidents  mentioned in the indictment include threats to burn down an Alabama trailer park, a threat to shoot a teacher and students at a Delaware high school, a shooting and bomb threat to the Albany International Airport in New York.